Composite railway-tie.



n-qwom.. COMPOSITE RAILWAY UE. AVPPLICAUON FILED MAY 2.1911

Mmm ma. 4, 1 91 Y.

Q MQ TiN JOSIEE'I-I D. THOMAS, OF PAWHUSKA, OKLAHOMA.

GMPOSTE RAILWAYTIB.

asienta.

l Application med May a. 1917.

To all whom t mayl concern:

Be it known that JosnrH D. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pawhuska, in the county of Osage and State 5 of Gklahoma, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Composite Railway-Ties, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

l |This invention relates to railway ties, and particularly to ties made of conjoined sections.

The general object of this invention is4 to provide a tie which is simply constructed l and cheaply made, which is thoroughly ellicient and which does away with the necessity of using wood as the material for the tie.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tie which either entirely or mostly is made of materials which will be absolutely permanent.

And a further object is to provide a tie which is made in sections so that if any 25. section gives away, breaks or becomes other wise damaged, the tie may be withdrawn from use and a new tie put in place, the sections of the old tie disassembled and then reassembled with a new section to replace the damaged one.

Still another object is to provide improved means 'for holding the rail to the tie and holding a rail bedy to the tie.

And still another object is to so construct the tie that longitudinal movement of the tie will be resisted Vand lateral movement of the rail bed will be resisted, thus resisting the lateral thrust exerted on the rails'by the action of the train.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is an elevation of one form of tie constructed in accordance with my invention, the rails being shown in section;

Fig. 2 is a top plan View of a portion of the tie;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 ofA Fig. 1;

Fig. -1 is a section on the line 4.--4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the section A of the tie9 shown in Fig. 1;

Fig- 6 is .side .elevatea .of a ,modified Speccaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. A, 1917..

Serial No. 166,002.

form of tie which I believe to be preferable in many respects.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the rail fastener detached.

In the drawings 1 have illustrated two forms of my invention and referring to the form illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5, it will be seen that the tie comprises two sections A and B, connected byan intermediate. conw necting bar C. Each of these sections, as illustrated in Fig. 5, is formed of a series of bricks or blocks 10 and bricks or blocks 11, disposed at the ends of the first series of bricks or blocks and displaced vertically. Fach of these bricks or blocks 10 and 11 is rectangular in form and is formed with a plurality of passages 12 and 13, the passages 12 being bolt passages. As shown in Fig. 5, the blocks or sections 10 are disposed on a lower plane than the blocks or sections 11, but the bolt-holes 12 or passages are so disposed that the passages 12 in the blocks 11 when these blocks are reversed will register with the passages 12 in the blocks 10, so that a plurality ofbolts 14 may extend entirely through all of the blocks to the ends of the section A or B and hold the blocks in close contiguity with each other. Preferably tarred paper or roofing felt, or other like material, designated 15, is disposed between the blocks. llashers or plates 16 are disposed against the outside faces of the blocks 11, and each vbolt 14 is provided at opposite ends with the nuts 17. The connecting bar C, which connects the sections A and B, is angularly turned at its ends, as at 18. Disposed upon the ends of the bolts 1A are the washers or plates 19, which are held in spaced relation to the washers or plates 16 by means of sleeves 18a and the angular end of the connecting rod C is inserted between these plates 19 and 16 and between the bolts 14, as illustrated in Fig. 3, thus providing for a detachable engagement between the connecting rodand the two sections A and B of the tie.

It is to be understood that the bricks or blocks 10 and 11 may be made of any suitable material, but I think it preferable to form these bricks or blocks of burnt clay or shale, as ordinary bricks would be cheaper than concrete blocks and could be more eas-ily manufactured and would probably better .ref

sist theY action `of the elements. l

It'will be seen that by disposing the 24, as illustrated in Fig. 4, formed with boltV passages 25, for the passage of the bolts 14,

and each plate is formed with an upwardly extending lug 26, to which is riveted, or otherwise attached, the lower end of a bolt 27. As illustrated, the lower end of this bolt is cleft and embraces the lug 26. Each bolt 27 extends up through its corresponding bolt passage 22 and, of course, carries at itsupper end a washer and a nut. By this means, the rail bed 21 is held firmly down upon the series of blocks 10. bolt openings 22 have a uniform diameter for the full length of the bolt-hole, but when the nuts on the bolts 27 are turned down, the edges of the lug 26 will be forced into the wood. These plates 24 and their lugs 26 are preferably made of sheet metal about -1-3g thick and as the nut is screwed home, these lugs 26 will cut or force themselves into the wood of the block 21, thus holding the wooden block or rail seat 21 tightly and Vfirmly down on the concrete or brick blocks below.

The rail D maybe held to the tie in any suitable manner, either by ordinary spikes driven into the bed 21, by screw spikes, or by rail clamps held to the bed 21. I have illustrated for this purpose, however, bolts 29 passing through the passages 23. The heads of these bolts are preferably provided with ears or projections to cut into the wood so as to keep these bolts from turning. posed upon the upper ends of the bolts are the rail clamps which may be made either of two conjoined rectangular plates disposed at right angles to each other or it could be stamped, molded or otherwise formed into the desired shape. This clamp, as illustrated in Fig. 7, consists of the portions 30 and 31, each portion having a thickness equal to the thickness of the base iiange of a rail D, that is, about 2j. The portion 30 ,z extendsat right angles to the portion 31 and as these portions 30 and 31 are oblong in form, it is obvious that each portion will project beyond the other portion. A bolt passage 32 is provided which extends through both of the members 30 and 31 and as illustrated in Fim 7 this bolt passage is disposed eccentricalIy to the center of the members 30 and 31, so that the distance between the bolt passage and the opposite ends of the member 31 is different and the The Disi distance between the bolt passage and the opposite ends of the member 31 is different both with relation to the opposite ends of the member 31 and the member 30. This rail clamp is adapted to be reversed so that either the member 30 or the member 31 may rest upon the upper face of the block 21 and thus either the member 30 or the member 31 will extend over the rail. It will thus be seen that four adjustments may be made of each rail clamp and thus the gage of the track can be widened at curves, dii'erent sized rails can be used on the same tie and `the rail will not come in contact with the nut or the head of the bolt as the case may be, and thus by the expansion and contraction of the rail cause the nut or bolt to become loose. I regard this as a very important feature of my invention as by its means adjustments for gage may be made. It will likewise be seen that when the nuts on the bolts 29 are turned home the rail clamps will be forced down hard on the rail and hold it in place. While I regard the rail clamp illustrated as particularly valuable, I wish it understood that other forms of rail clamp might be used.

The bolts 27 are provided with nuts attheir upper ends which may bear upon washers 32 in turn bearing against the upper face of the rail bed 21 and it will further be seen that the plate 24 is of such form that the plates may be cut out of sheet metal with practically no waste. Thus, for instance, the lower edge of each plate 24 is cut away as at 33 so as to provide for the making of the tongue 26 on the next adjacent plate. The lower edge of each plate 24 conforms to and will fit on the upper edge of the next adjacent plate 24 and in cutting this out of sheets of steel, say 1"-6 thick, there will be but little waste of material and in fact it would be an easy matter to stamp out all of the washers from the sheet steel at the time the plates 24 were stamped out.

In Fig. 6 I show another form of the invention, in which the middle section C, which is formed of a bar of metal, as in Fig. 1. is replaced by a section C consisting` of a plurality of blocks 1l. The principle of operation of the tie shown in Fig. 6, however, is exactly the same as the one previously decribed. Again I wish to state that the manner of holding the rail upon the bed 21 may be varied in many different ways and I do not wish to limit myself to the construction illustrated for this purpose, and again it may be pointed out that while wood is the best material for the rail bed, because of its relative elasticity, yet I may form this i bed of asphalt composition block, instead of a wooden block, or a block of any other suitable material may be used. The blocks 11 and 10 will be made of concrete, brick, or other like material, which will be practilIO l l) (i Ies Lerares cally indestructible. The passage 13 is provided in all ofthe -bricks or blocks so as to cause them to dry out and burn more quickly and easily, but these passages also perform another function in that they are useful Jfor inserting-a hook, something like Va cotton hook, so as to litt or pull the tie in place. rlhe plates 16 are intended to have perforations as illustrated in Figz registering with the passage 13 but slightly smaller than this passage, so as to give a substantial hold to the hook or other implement used in lifting the tie. r

One of the particular advantages of my instruction resides in the facility with which the various parts of the tie may be made, or bought in the open market and afterward assembled. The blocks 11 and 10 can be made anywhere, in any brick plant, or concrete molding plant. All ot" the steel parts can be formed of standard rods and plates and easily secured at a relatively small price from any steel plant. The wooden blocks, if wood Vis used, canV be secured at any saw mill, or creosoting block plant, and it is obvious that the rooting felt sheets which are disposed between the blocks 11 and 10 can be procured anywhere in the country. Thus all of the diii'erent parts which compose this tie are cheap and easy to procure and it is obvious'that no skilled labor will be required in assembling the parts and that the assembling may be done along the right of way, as the road is built, or that i1E an assembling plant is used, this may be ci' simplest description.

Attention is called to the fact that a tie constructed in accordance with this invention will maintain its position in the road bed very firmly, because the central section composed of thev bricks 10 is depressed relative to the bricks or blocks 11., so that this depressed portion, or these depressed portions, extend down into the ballast and being so embed ded prevent any lateral shifting of the tie and not only does the depression of the middle portion of each end of the tie cause the tie to resist lateral movement, but lateral movement of the rails, due to the thrust, is resisted by the rail bed 21 being disposed in a depressed seat on the top of the tie besides being iirmly bolted down. llt will be obvious also that the bricks or blocks 10 and 11 need not be of rectangular shape, but may be formed so as to provide downwardly extending projections which will resist any creeping movement of the tie.

The felt roofing sheets 15 between the bricks or blocks give the tie a certain springiness or resiliency similar to that of a wooden tie, thus making the tie harder to break and this feature, together with the wooden or composition rail seat, makes this tie particularly easy on rolling stock, as easy as the all wood tie in common use,

Having described my invention, what I claim is i 1. A railway tie formed of a series of blocks, certain of the blocks being depressed below the other blocks to provide a seat for a rail bed on the upper face of the tie and provide shoulders on the under face of the tie to. resist longitudinal displacement of the tie. Y

2. A composite tie composed of a plurality of blocks disposed in abutting relation, and bolts passing longitudinally through the blocks and holding them firmly engaged to each other, certain of said blocks being depressed with relation to the adjacent blocks, so as to provide a seat for a rail bed and to provide shoulders on the under face of the tie resisting longitudinal displacement of the tie.

3. A railway tie of the character described, comprising a plurality of blocks disposed in abutting relation, certain of the blocks being disposed in a lower plane than the remainder oli the blocks to thereby form a depressed rail seat, a rail bed disposed on said seat, and vertically extending bolts holding the rail bed in place.V i

4L. A tie of the character described com prising a plurality of blocks in abutting relation, longitudinally extending bolts holding the blocks together, certain of said blocks being depressed with relation to the other blocks to form a rail bed seat, plates disposed between certain of said depressed blocks and having upstanding bolts connected thereto, and a rail bed disposed in said seat and having passages through which said bolts pass, whereby to hold the rail bed to the body of the tie.

5. A tie comprising a plurality of blocks of relatively hard and indestructible material, longitudinally extending bolts holding said blocks in abutting relation, certain of said blocks being depressed with relation to the adjacent blocks to form a rail bed seat and to project below the level of the adjacent portion of the tie on the underside, a wooden block disposed on said seat, and bolts passing upward through the blocks and through said wooden bed.

6. A tie of the character described composed of a plurality of blocks disposed in abutting relation, longitudinally extending bolts passing through the blocks and holding them in said relation, plates disposed between certain oi the blocks and through which said bolts pass, upwardly extending bolts attached to said plates, and a rail bed having vertical passages through which said bolts pass and resting upon the blocks.

7 A tie of the character described made up of a plurality of blocks, bolts passing longitudinally through the blocks and holding them in contiguity, rail bed engaging devices connected to the blocks and extendllt) ing upward therefrom, and a rail bed engaged by said bolts, the blocks being formed with registering passages whereby a lifting implement may be inserted in the passages for lifting and holding the tie.

8. A tie of the character described composed of a plurality of blocks disposed in abutting relation, longitudinally extending bolts passing throughV the blocks and holding lthem in said relation, plates disposed between certain of the blocks and through which said bolts pass, upwardly extending bolts attached to said plates, and a rail bed having verticalpassages through which said bolts pass, and resting upon the blocks, the upper edges of said plates being formed to provide relatively sharp lugs which are forced upwardinto the rail bed by the tightening of the nuts on said bolts.

.9. A tie of the character described composed of a plurality of blocks disposed in abutting relation, longitudinally extending bolts passing through the blocks and holding them in said relation, plates disposed between certain of the blocks and through l0. A tie composed of blocks disposed in abutting relation, each of said blocks having passages extending through it from side to side, the passages being disposed nearer one edge face of the block than the other edge face whereby certain blocks may be inverted with respect to certain other blocks to thereby relatively elevate said inverted blocks, and bolts passing through said passages and holding the blocks in abutting relation.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH D. THOMAS. Witnesses:

A. S. WRIGHT, F. M. MORRIS.

Copies of, .this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

. Washington, D. C. 

